U.S. Standard Atmosphere
The U.S. Standard Atmosphere is a
Methodology
The USSA
- the vertical pressure variation, which relates pressure, density and geopotential altitude (using a standard pressure of 101,325 pascals (14.696 psi) at mean sea level as a boundary condition):
- , and
- the ideal gas law in molar form, which relates pressure, density, and temperature:
at each geopotential altitude, where g is the standard acceleration of gravity, and Rspecific is the specific gas constant for dry air.
Air density must be calculated in order to solve for the pressure, and is used in calculating dynamic pressure for moving vehicles. Dynamic viscosity is an empirical function of temperature, and kinematic viscosity is calculated by dividing dynamic viscosity by the density.
Thus the standard consists of a tabulation of values at various altitudes, plus some formulas by which those values were derived.
To allow modeling conditions below mean sea level, the troposphere is actually extended to −2,000 feet (−610 m), where the temperature is 66.1 °F (18.9 °C), pressure is 15.79 pounds per square inch (108,900 Pa), and density is 0.08106 pounds per cubic foot (1.2985 kg/m3).
1962 version
The basic assumptions made for the 1962 version were:[3]
- air is a clean, dry, perfect gas mixture (cp/cv = 1.40)
- molecular weightto 90 km of 28.9644 (C-12 scale)
- principal sea-level constituents are assumed to be (in mole percent):
- assigned mean conditions at sea level are as follows :
The
1976 version
This is the most recent version and differs from previous versions only above 51 km:
Subscript b | Geopotential height above MSL[4] |
Static pressure | Standard temperature (K) |
Temperature Lapse Rate | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(m) | (ft) | (pascals) | (inHg) | (K/m) | (K/ft) | ||
0 | 0 | 0 | 101325 | 29.92126 | 288.15 | -0.0065 | -0.001981 |
1 | 11,000 | 36,089 | 22632.1 | 6.683245 | 216.65 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
2 | 20,000 | 65,617 | 5474.89 | 1.616734 | 216.65 | 0.001 | 0.0003048 |
3 | 32,000 | 104,987 | 868.019 | 0.2563258 | 228.65 | 0.0028 | 0.0008534 |
4 | 47,000 | 154,199 | 110.906 | 0.0327506 | 270.65 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
5 | 51,000 | 167,323 | 66.9389 | 0.01976704 | 270.65 | -0.0028 | -0.0008534 |
6 | 71,000 | 232,940 | 3.95642 | 0.00116833 | 214.65 | -0.002 | -0.0006096 |
7 | 84,852 | 278,385 | 186.946 |
See also
- Atmospheric models
- NRLMSISE-00
- Barometric formula
- Standard temperature and pressure
References
- ^ Geometric altitude vs. temperature, pressure, density, and the speed of sound derived from the 1962 U.S. Standard Atmosphere.
- ^ Gyatt, Graham (2006-01-14): "The Standard Atmosphere". A mathematical model of the 1976 U.S. Standard Atmosphere.
- ISBN 0-8493-0252-8.
- ^ U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1962, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1962, https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/space-weather/online-publications/miscellaneous/us-standard-atmosphere-1976/us-standard-atmosphere_st76-1562_noaa.pdf
Documents
- U.S. Extension to the ICAO Standard Atmosphere, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1958.
- U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1962, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1962. [1]
- U.S. Standard Atmosphere Supplements, 1966, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1966.
- U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1976 (Linked file is 17 MB).